Following pressure last month from the Israel-based Zionist NGO Im Tirtzu, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem rector Tamir Sheafer informed all members of his staff that they were not at liberty to promote their political agendas through the open-source-learning platform Moodle.
“Contact with students through [this online tool] is intended only for pedagogical purposes that are directly related to course content,” he wrote. “It may not be used for other purposes, even if those appear very justified and important to the course lecturer.”
It doesn’t take a PhD to realize that the issue at hand, which spurred complaints in the first place, was – what else? – judicial reform. More precisely, it was a call to action against what the “resistance” has been referring ridiculously to as the government’s evil moves to become a theocratic dictatorship.
Sheafer can be commended for reminding educators on the government-funded HU payroll to reserve their ideological pursuits for their free time, an abundance of which happens to be a perk of their profession. But he’s got a lot more to confront at the moment than professors imposing their views on malleable minds. That phenomenon is practically taken for granted these days on campuses around the world, including in Israel.
No, he and his fellow HU honchos need to go well beyond such a mild measure as a memo where the latest, far worse, transgression is concerned. The fact that it emanated from the “diversity” department, however, likely means it will be glossed over or excused through some rhetorical trick.
THE TRAVESTY was revealed on Monday, when an e-mail – signed by HU Vice President for Strategy and Diversity Prof. Mona Khoury and Diversity Unit director Sharon Ben-Aryeh – listed “Nakba Day” as one of the holidays/days of mourning coming up in the next semester.
It should be noted here, for those who might have forgotten, that Nakba is the Arabic term for the “catastrophe” of Israel’s establishment in 1948. It’s honored annually on May 15 by Palestinians and like-minded enemies of the Jewish state who bemoan its birth and remain bent on its destruction.
“We are currently experiencing a stormy period,” began the letter from the diversity duo. “In addition to the political and social turmoil, we are entering a period full of holidays and festivals, some of which create trepidation, tension and escalation. Days of happiness and sadness, days of celebration and days of mourning of the three religions merge and collide during the three coming months.”
Their message continued, “We invite you to continue to contact us with ideas, needs and feelings concerning our community, the Hebrew University community, which consists of a very wide variety of cultures, religions, languages, backgrounds, nationalities, genders and other identities.” Oy.
They concluded by pointing to two attached “brochures,” one of which contained “tips for dealing with turbulent times,” and by offering their assurance of being “with you in holiday joy, with you in the days of mourning and with you in fear and in hope.”
These nauseating words were the lead-up to the holiday calendar, which – in addition to Nakba Day – included Passover, Easter, Prophet Shu’ayb festival [observed by Druze], Memorial Day for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, Israel Independence Day and International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Seriously?
Asked by the Hebrew daily Israel Hayom for clarification, some HU representatives responded that the aim of the mail was to highlight the “university’s preparations for holidays and anniversaries that could create tension and escalation. Its purpose is to offer the university community the services of the diversity unit in allaying concerns and creating inclusive and respectful discourse.”
Someone ought to fill in these paragons of political correctness that Nakba Day, which signifies and glorifies “tension and escalation,” is antithetical to “inclusive and respectful discourse.” Indeed, it’s all about violent opposition to the very existence of the Jewish state. You know, the one that funds Hebrew University and, by extension, the salaries of epistle authors Khoury and Ben-Aryeh.
THIS WAS a key point that Im Tirtzu stressed on Wednesday, in a letter to Sheafer, HU President Asher Cohen and Dean Guy Harpaz – with copies to Education Minister Yoav Kisch, members of the Council for Higher Education and National Union of Israeli Students head Elchanan Felhimar.
“A public university funded by the citizens of Israel cannot validate, in an official e-mail, the perspective of the enemies of the state mourning its establishment,” the group stated. “If that’s not enough, in recent years, ‘Nakba Day’ has become an agitating factor in a wave of nationalism and incitement among students, who allow themselves to fly the terrorist PLO flag and chant slogans encouraging… terrorists (‘martyrs’) and popular uprising (intifada).”
“A public university funded by the citizens of Israel cannot validate, in an official e-mail, the perspective of the enemies of the state mourning its establishment.”
Im Tirtzu
It went on, “Unlike incitement, the absurd recognition of the day of mourning over the establishment of the State of Israel is [a right] in the framework of freedom of expression” – but for “private individuals, not the university as an institution.”
The latter is true, yet it leaves a lot of room for ivory-tower interpretation. And the powers-that-be at HU have no problem wiggling around in it.
It was exactly on the grounds that he’s a “private individual when outside of the classroom” that professor of philosophy and law David Enoch got away with urging American Jewry to engage in BDS, ostensibly due to Israel’s new right-wing government.
In a vile op-ed at the end of January in The Forward, Enoch called on US Jews to “take specific actions against the occupation: Boycott products coming out of the settlements. Refuse to cooperate with settlement municipalities, host sports teams coming out of the settlements or take tours of wineries on occupied land. Support liberal actors within Israel, both in politics, journalism and NGOs.”
Not only that. He insisted that “it is crucial now to support those American politicians who will champion in Congress measures intended to create such pressure on Israel, including, for instance, making aid conditional on ceasing settlement expansion and on reigning in settlers’ violence.”
Lest any readers of the piece imagine that his hostility emerged with the formation of the current coalition, they’d do well to think again. Enoch has been decrying his country in print and from podiums for many years.
THE PRACTICE puts him in good company in academia on either side of the ocean. What it doesn’t do is jeopardize his livelihood, courtesy of the state he’s spent his career pulverizing.
Furthermore, despite the protestations of his HU bosses to the contrary, there’s no way he’s been leaving his radical leftism at the door of the lecture halls where he graces students with his presence. Nor need one wonder whether he supports the marking of Nakba Day; he’s probably planning on taking a break from protesting in the streets to commemorate it.
Thanks to his colleagues in the diversity department, he won’t forget the date. The irony here is as inescapable as the tragedy, since the one thing that students attending Israel’s top institution of higher learning are not exposed to is diversity.